False ceiling crashes in another Jaipur hotel, two govt offices

Portion of a false ceiling at Hotel Jaipur Marriott, located near Jawahar Circle garden, collapsed on a car on Sunday night, police said. Two cases of false ceilings collapse have also been reported from two government offices

A false ceiling of Hotel Fortune Park Bella Cassa collapsed killing three and injuring 30 people on July 6.(For representational purposes only)

Barely a week after three people were killed and several others injured after a false ceiling in an upscale city hotel gave way, three such incidents were reported from across the capital city since Sunday night.

Portion of a false ceiling at Hotel Jaipur Marriott, located near Jawahar Circle garden, collapsed on a car on Sunday night, police said. Two cases of false ceilings collapse have also been reported from two government offices. No casualties in any of the three cases.

“On Sunday night, a portion of the false ceiling installed over the parking porch at Hotel Jaipur Marriott collapsed and damaged a car parked underneath. It was a mild accident and no one was injured. The owner of the car has not lodged any FIR,” said station house officer of Jawahar Circle police station Hari Shankar.

On Monday, a portion of the false ceiling at secretariat office collapsed, while a day earlier a similar incident was reported from the public health and engineering department (PHED).

Earlier on July 6, a false ceiling of Hotel Fortune Park Bella Cassa collapsed killing three and injuring 30 people.

Hotels clueless on how to deal with wear and tear

The back-to-back incidents highlights that when designer false ceilings are becoming increasingly popular, especially in hotels and restaurants, not many are keen to ensure the safety of such installations or simply have no mechanism to check the possible corrosion and weakening of false ceilings.

After the Bella Cassa accident, the Jaipur police had written to the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) and asked them to conduct a probe into the matter. But the JDA had responded saying that they did not have experts to conduct such probes and it should be conducted by experts from the Malviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT).

“We are in the process of writing to the MNIT…(we will) request them to depute experts who would conduct the probe. A minimum amount of precaution has to be exercised on the part of the owners of public places, such as hotels and restaurants, where an accident can have grave consequences,” said commissioner of police Sanjay Agarwal.

Jawahar circle station house officer Hari Shankar said around 20 hotels in the area have been issued notices and asked to take safety precautions.

The hotels and restaurants include both five star and economic ones.

“As per the notice, the hotels would have to conduct regular checks of their infrastructure by engineers and take precautionary measures to avert such incidents,” said the SHO.